Hello beloved,

I hope this finds you well. Do not worry about your boy; he is all well. He has found friends, and more importantly he has found a family that’s full of love, kindness and unending hospitality. So relax; your boy is very fine, we have Dr Vero here!

When I was bidding farewell, I told you I was going for Internship at Rice University. I was not so clear about what we would be doing, so consider my writing to you an opportunity to share my experiences here.

 

Thanks to Grant, one of our teaching Assistants, who escorted us to Lakewood where we had our first Church service in the US.  The picture cannot tell everything about how it was, but it was really awesome.

 

Jet lag aside, on Monday we got started with Student’s Experience of Engineering Design (SEED) Program in the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK). During the morning it was mostly about introduction and orientation as we were new to this place. In the afternoon, they planned that we should go to Houston Zoo for a zoo project, but it did not work as our Identity cards were not yet ready; so we spent most of the afternoon at the ISIS and Rice Police in order to get the ID ready.

On the second day we got into groups where we shared and compared things like culture, university life between Malawi and United States. It was an opportunity to learn from our differences and similarities.

We also had an awesome moment “Icebreakers” where we had a chance to break and see the interior of various electronic equipment eg computer, printer, TV, in order to appreciate the components they are made of.

 

 

 

On Wednesday, we went to Houston Zoo where we met the client, who desires a system or device to be developed that would enhance activity of hogs at the zoo, in order to prevent overweight or obesity among the hogs. We had a discussion with the client about what they wanted and were given a chance of asking questions, and also visiting the hogs’ pane. We also had a look at the feeders they currently use.

As I told you I have a family even here; we had lunch together as a family in the OEDK. It was an amazing moment, we hope for more where we can bring our nsima on the table.

There is a lot I can talk about, but for now let me just talk about this week only. I don’t want to talk about the weather here, this place is hot. Can you imagine our Rice fellows waited for over 1 hour 30 mins outside the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS)  as we were doing some of our paperwork concerning our stay in the US? I cannot fully explain the love and hospitality but at least if I tell you they are a family, that’s more than willing to help whenever you are stuck without making you feel out of place, you would understand what I mean.

 

I hope to take you to one of the amazing places that I have already visited, and also intend to visit. There’s a lot to explore and admire here. I believe I will write more to you when I visit the Museum, the Zoo again, and a lot more places..

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, let me also share with you about what we had on our fourth day. We got into DESIGNS. I mean more about Design Criteria; working on exercises from our work book as we come up with solutions for the Zoo project. There are a couple of videos I have watched, and continue to watch, and I hope to share with you pretty soon. As for now, you can take your time to enjoy reading what is in the pictures below.

Your boy

Clement